Top 10 Mobile App Design Best Practices

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The world is going digitized, and mobile applications are catalyzing this change.  From ordering food to managing finances, mobile apps are our personal assistants that offer unparalleled convenience and accessibility.

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Did you know there are  8.93 million smartphone apps worldwide, with 3.553 million apps in the Google Play Store and 1.642 million in the Apple App Store? How do you differentiate your mobile application in this ocean of mobile apps?

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Does standing out from the league intrigue you and leave you contemplating how you can make your mobile application different from the others? The answer lies in enhanced user experience, which only the best mobile app design promises.

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This blog takes you through top 10 mobile app design best practises for 2024. It will help you understand how you can create the best mobile app that instantly grabs the attention and retails the user.

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What Does a Unique Mobile App Experience Offer?

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Consider this: The user is opening the application, and they feel that they have stepped into their niche, where everything has been designed just for them. Doesn’t this sound amazing? Well, if you, too, are on the same page, then you should follow the mobile app design best practices that guarantee an outstanding user experience.

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We're talking sleek interfaces, lightning-fast navigation, and features that make users say, "Finally, an app that gets me!" So, are you ready to unleash your app's true potential? Let's dive in!

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What is a Mobile App?

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A mobile application is a software program that is specially designed for smartphones or tablets. It offers a one-stop platform for buying services or products. These apps are downloaded and installed on the device, providing users with a dedicated platform to access information, complete tasks, or engage in interactive experiences.

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Mobile applications have become the need of the hour. Since there are more than 6 billion smartphone users globally, it represents a significant market opportunity that companies cannot afford to ignore.

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Here, we cannot miss discussing mobile UX design. Mobile UX design focuses on creating a user-friendly interface specially designed for mobile users.

While creating a mobile app, the UX designer considers unique characteristics, limitations, and capabilities. The end objective is to create an application that offers a seamless experience.

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Mobile UX designers have to focus on different screen sizes and resolutions. Mobile app UX designers are capable of creating outstanding designs, but if you want to roll up your sleeves and take up the charge, Webflow is a great platform to create amazing designs suitable for laptops, desktops, and mobile phones. 

Compared to the website design process, mobile apps work differently. Mobile devices have touchscreen interfaces, and hence, the mobile UX design focuses on optimizing the interactions for touch, gestures, swiping, and dragging. A simplified navigation structure is equally important to make mobile app usage seamless and smooth.

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Why are Mobile Apps Important?

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Having a mobile application has become a necessity. With a wider customer base now interacting with the digital world via mobile phones, having a mobile app bridges the gap between the customer and the company. The mobile app has several other benefits, these include:

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Enhanced User Experience

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A streamlined and convenient access ability to different products and services is one of the key benefits of a mobile app. It eliminates the need to shift those Palki websites and brings everything to the tip of the fingers.

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This enhanced user experience motivates the customer to make a purchase, thereby helping the brand get the conversion that they are targeting.  

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Increased Engagement

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Last, user engagement is the primary target of every mobile app. A well-designed application will foster better user engagement by offering a tailored experience, personalized touch, and much more.

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The gamification element added to various mobile apps, like you can see spin the wheel in the CRED mobile app or the loyalty programs offered by applications like Myntra or Nykka, motivates the customer to make purchases that are posting the conversion for the brand.

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Improved Brand Visibility

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A well-designed app can be a brand extension in the user’s prop pocket. Every time with the push notification, the brand is able to carve a mark in the mind and heart of the user. This eventually increases brand awareness and promotes top-of-the-mind recall.

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Data Collection and Insights

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Data is king, and companies are using this information to provide a more tailored experience for their users. With the data collected via the application, the companies can look into customer insights, buying behavior, and preferences. This eventually helps enhance the application's functionality and promotes a personalized marketing campaign that drives sales.

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Key Pointers to Consider While Designing a Mobile App

Before digging deeper to explore the trending mobile app design best practices, we must consider certain foundational aspects of mobile app designing:

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1. Target Audience

Knowing the target audience is crucial as it helps understand the behavior and preferences. This helps curate the mobile app to cater to specific requirements.

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2. App Purpose 

Identifying the objective of the mobile app is also pivotal. Knowing the ultimate goal helps in designing the app that will eventually solve the user's problem.

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3. Competitive Analysis

Research existing apps in your niche. Analyze their strengths and weaknesses to identify opportunities for differentiation and innovation. 

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Top 10 Mobile App Design Best Practices in 2024

Now that we've established the importance of UX in mobile app design let's explore the top 10 best practices to keep in mind for 2024:

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1. Simple Navigation

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Trust us: navigation can make or break your mobile app performance. The key focus while designing any mobile app should be seamless navigation. The user should be able to operate the app with ease and not get into the complexities. The latter can dramatically plummet the app’s perfectness.

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A smooth navigation throughout the app will help the user easily perform the operations. It should motivate the user and engage them.  The mobile app interface's objective should be to reduce the user’s effort. Some of the examples that designers can take into account are the bottom navigation bar, tabbed mobile navigating designs, FAB or floating action buttons, card-style mobile navigation designs, and more.

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2. A Clean Mobile Interface

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As much as it is important to provide the right information to the user, a cluttered design will steal away the show and negatively impact the user’s perception. This reduces engagement, thus impacting brand value.

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Conversely, consider creating a well-organized mobile UI with the necessary information stacked well. This will draw the attention and motivate the customer to invest their time and money.  The mobile app UX designer should target creating an app that offers a blend of a minimalistic design paired with unique functionality.

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To achieve this goal, the designer should maintain consistency throughout the app. The design and navigation should look familiar and should be extensions of the previous one. Having thumb-friendly interactions ensures ease of usage. However, focusing on using legible fonts and suitable contrast is also important. Don’t miss out on optimizing graphics for better performance.  With these basic considerations, designing a well-performing mobile app is achievable.

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3. Easy Onboarding

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The first few minutes a user lands on your mobile application can have a crucial impact on their perception of the brand. If you can create a platform where they can log in easily without any hassle, you can gain the user's interest. Failing to do so will have an unlike impact on the brand.

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A simplified onboarding process is the key to success here. Reducing the number of steps required for them to start and ensuring that each step is concise help grab the attention of the user? Apps like Facebook and Google Maps are examples of simplifying the onboarding process.

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4. Wireframing

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Wireframing is integral in UI design. It allows the designer to structure their idea and run through it before they materialize. It exposes the rough edges in the design and plan so that the designer can reiterate them and reduce the flaw. It thus, saves time.

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Wireframing is crucial in places where the designers are working remotely or have cross-functional teams. It allows the members to get involved in the ideation phase and give their input. This eventually increases productivity and makes the activation process easier. 

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5. The UI Gesture

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When designing mobile apps, gestures play a pivotal role. Enabling gesture-based interaction like strolling, tilting, shaking, and pinching helps the user access the content at their convenience. For example, the app designer can use finger swipes on a touchscreen.

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 Make sure to use clear and intuitive gestures which are easy to learn. Avoid adding complexity at this stage. An overload of gestures can also be an overwhelming experience, and sticking to the minimal approach is a good move.

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6. Push Notifications

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Mobile apps and notifications go hand-in-hand. In fact, they are a great way to keep the customer posted with new trends, app updates, upcoming sales, or other information. However, too many notifications can distract the user and disturb them. This can reduce the application usage as well.

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Hence, in 2024, the best practice for mobile app design should be to send notifications sparingly and only to genuine users. Consider designing a notification strategy. Make sure it is interest-generating, concise, and provides clear information.

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7. Easy Usage Even on Poor Connectivity

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Poor connectivity can also be an obstacle to mobile app usage. To ensure its seamless usability at the end user level, the designers and developers should consider the poor connectivity aspect as well. Designing the app optimized for poor connectivity can help in capturing the customer base located in areas that are facing patchy internet connection.

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Consider using small file sizes wherever possible. Using data compression to reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred over the network, making sure that the app is available in the online mode, testing the app in the areas with poor connectivity, and cashing to store data locally on the devices so that it can be accessed offline.

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These are some of the parameters that the designers and developers can take into account, thereby ensuring the seamless functioning of the mobile app, even in areas with poor internet connections.

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8. Optimize the Load Time

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Similar to the loading time of the website, the mobile app loading time also plays an important role in boosting the consumer's experience. The user will leave the app if the load time is more than a few seconds. The designers can easily achieve this by optimizing the images, simplifying the layout, and reducing the redirects.

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9. Integrating Chatbots for Better Assistance

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AI has become a buzzword. Its intervention across the different business niches is grabbing a lot of attention. The mobile app design cannot stay away in 2024 from the AI intervention.

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Adding chatbots to improve customer experience and address their query will help gain customer accolades. Moreover, these chatbots are designed to function around the clock, which will help you address customer queries irrespective of geography.

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This helps expand the mobile app's reach to different parts of the globe, thereby boosting the organization's growth.

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10. UX Audit and Feedback

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Continuous auditing and feedback from the design team play an important role in creating an application that is perfect for the end user. The UX auditors and UI evaluators can use the app to test its performance.

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This will help in evaluating any loopholes and provide necessary suggestions that will make the app flawless.

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Ready to Take Your Mobile App Design a Notch Above?

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The Alien Design is Your Gateway!

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The dynamism of the mobile app design world can be overwhelming sometimes. With simple interfaces and features, achieving outstanding business goals is a not feasible. AI chatbots, notifications, etc. Integrating all these aspects is necessary to keep your mobile app current. Here you need the expertise of The Alien Design – a company committed to offer the best UX design experience for website as well as mobile applications.

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If you wish to supercharge your mobile app's design and technical aspects, connect with the design experts at at Alien.

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Read more:

Best UX Strategies for User Retention that Actually Works

5 Key Factors to Consider When Choosing a UX Design Agency

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